bacta the basics

[sensiblecrow]

We all know that bacta is the go-to healing tool in the Star Wars universe, but even science that's basically magic must have some limits.

What can't bacta fix?

Potential sub-questions:
- How do people deal with conditions that can't be treated by bacta?
- Are there people who can't use bacta at all?
- How has bacta affected medical research and treatment progress?
- Why might someone refuse bacta treatment?

Comments

[sensiblecrow]

My guess re the scarification is that bacta prevents scarring by allowing the body to produce what's effectively a perfect skin graft - no surgery or chance of rejection involved. Regeneration of bony or cartilage structures seems to be outside of bacta's purview, which would eliminate the possibility of regrowing functional limbs. Skin is really good at reproducing itself, but I'm under the impression (also a humanities/social sciences major lol) that the cells in your wrist don't "know" how to grow complex things like fingers - they just reproduce themselves within the existing structure.

I'm trying so hard to figure out a vaguely scientific sounding reason for bacta not enhancing bacteria and am coming up blank lol. I think maybe it's less that bacta acts on individual cells than it somehow supports a body's immune and healing systems? Maybe it's actually a hyper-efficient fuel for certain cell types or something

Medicine and medical science is such a wild thing in SW, I'm excited to post more questions about health and see what people think. Is there anything you'd be interested in following up on?